Machine for operating upon sheet material



5, 1939. J. GOULDBOURN 2,169,319

MACHINE FOR OPERATING UPON SHEET MATERIAL 'Filed June 30, 1938 2 SheetsSheet 1 Fig.1

Z0 O O '/0 1 m E 11 /4 fig I [761 I O I 54 I I I -11?" J I Z 50 Z I l I: 25 I g- 15, 1939- J. GOULDBOURN 2,169,319

MACHINE FOR OPERATING UPON SHEET MATERIAL Filed June 30, 1938 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Fig.2

a wu M 4 Patented Aug. 15, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFIiCE MACHINE FOR OPERATING UPON SHEET MATERIAL Application June 30, 1938, Serial No. 216,829 In Great Britain August 19, 1937 4 Claims.

This invention relates to machines for operating upon sheet material and is herein illustrated as embodied in a clicking machine of the type illustrated in United States Letters Patent No. 921,503, granted May 11, 1909, upon an application filed in the name of Arthur Bates.

Machines of the type referred to commonly comprise a cutting bed, a post, and a presser arm or beam secured to the post and movable about the axis of the post over the cutting bed, there being means for reciprocating the post in the direction of its axis to produce pressureapplying strokes of the pressure arm against a freely movable die thereby forcing the die through sheet material, such as leather, positioned upon the cutting block. During operation of a machine of the type referred to, the cutting bed on the one hand and the presser arm and the frame portion of the machine supporting it on the other, are subject to comparatively great stresses, resulting in a springing action between the presser arm and the cutting bed.

In View of the foregoing, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved clicking machine in which any springing action between the presser arm and the cutting bed is substantially minimized if not completely eliminated.

In accordance with an important feature of the invention, therefore, the upwardly extending frame portion of a clicking machine of the type referred to, which is provided with bearings for the post carrying the presser arm, is connected by braces to the support for the cutting bed. The braces extend on opposite sides of the machine between the bed support and the upwardly extending frame portion, the braces each comprising a tensioned tie rod having its opposite ends anchored respectively to the bed and to the frame portion.

Other objects of the invention and features of construction will be apparent from the following description and will be pointed out in the claims.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a view in side elevation of a clicking machine illustrating a preferred embodiment of the invention;

Fig. 2 is a sectional view of the machine taken on the line IIII of Fig. 1; and

Fig. 3 is a sectional view of a bracing member used in the illustrated machine.

Referring to Fig. 1, the illustrated clicking machine comprises a C-shaped frame member ID containing bearings for the upper and lower (Cl. Mi l-23) dotted lines at !8, a handle which moves with the beam [4 being employed to trip the clutch. The cutting block 59 is seated on a casting 22 which is secured by bolts 23 to the lower vertical face of the machine frame is, there being also a horizontal tongue and groove joint in the abutting faces of the frame member if: and the casting 22 so as to prevent a downward movement of the casting 22 when cutting blows are delivered by the beam M. The construction as thus far described is well-known in the art.

In order to eliminate or minimize springing action between the beam i4 and the cutting block l6 which has been found regularly to occur in machines of the type under consideration, there are provided struts or braces. connecting the upper portion of the machine frame with the casting 22 carrying the cutting block. As illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2, a pair of bars 29 are symmetrically positioned at the sides of the machine frame 19, their upper ends being retained against lugs 26 provided on the machine frame i9 somewhat above the top face of the cutting block it, the lower ends of the bars 24 being retained against lugs 28 provided at the sides of the casting 22 below the cutting block [6. The bars 24 are retained after assembly against the lugs 26 and 28 by nuts 39 threaded on the bar ends which transmit the pressure produced by tensioning the bars 24 through spherically surfaced convex washers 32 to the lugs which have hollow spherical seats to receive the washers 32. A spacer tube 34 is placed around each of the bars 24, each tube being provided with spherical end surfaces arranged to seat in the hollowed sides of collars 36 of which the other and fiat sides are seated against the lugs 26 and 28 as may be seen in Fig. 3. Further, as shown in Fig. 3, the holes in the lugs 26 and 28 are made of larger diameter than are the bars 2d giving clearance which insures that the bars. 24 will not apply stresses laterally to the lugs 26 and 28 when the nuts 39 are tightened and that all the pressure resulting from such tightening is applied to the hollow surfaces of the lugs through the convex washers 32. Each of the spacer tubes 34 with its collar 36 is accurately fitted for length to correspond closely with the distance between the opposing faces of the corresponding lugs 26 and 28 as the machine frame l0 and the casting 22 are set up so that the tightening of the nuts may not put undue stress upon the frame l0 and the casting 22.

In the illustrated machine, as may be seen from Fig. 2, the horizontal angle that each bar 24 makes with the line 25 passing through the center of the post l2 and the middle of the top surface of the cutting block 16 is about 35 and, as may be seen from Fig. 1, the vertical angle between the bars 24 and the top surface of the cutting block i6 is about 20. These angles will, however, be varied in accordance with the width of the cutting block l6 and the horizontal distance between the block and the rear part of the machine frame It].

Having described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. In a clicking machine having a cutting bed and an upwardly extending frame portion for supporting vertically reciprocable parts including a presser member arranged over the cutting bed, braces extending on opposite sides of the machine between the said bed and said upwardly extending frame portion.

2. In a clicking machine having a cutting bed and an upwardly extending frame portion for supporting vertically reciprocable parts including a presser member arranged over the cutting bed, braces extending on opposite sides of the machine between the said bed and said upwardly extending frame portion, said braces each comprising a tensioned tie rod having its opposite ends anchored respectively to the bed and to said frame portion.

3. In a clicking machine having a cutting bed and an upwardly extending frame portion for supporting vertically reciprocable parts including a presser member arranged over the cutting bed, braces extending on opposite sides of the machine between the said bed and said upwardly extending frame portion, said braces each comprising a tensioned tie rod having its opposite ends anchored respectively to the bed and to said frame portion, and a tubular strut surrounding each tie rod and having its opposite ends connected in abutting relation to the said bed and to said frame portion.

4. In a clicking machine having a cutting bed and an upwardly extending frame portion for supporting vertically reciprocable parts including a presser member arranged over the cutting bed,

braces extending on opposite sides of the machine between the cutting bed and said upwardly extending frame portion, said braces each comprising a tubular strut having its opposite ends connected in abutting relation to the said bed and to said frame portion.

JOSEPH GOULDBOURN. 

